Raiders target synthetic marijuana

An F.B.I. agent enters the Hang Ten store Wednesday morning June 26, 2013 at 11,421 West Avenue. The F.B.I. and other federal agencies made stops at several stores around San Antonio that sell synthetic marijuana. A press conference is expected at 3:00 p.m. that should provide more details.

Photo By JOHN DAVENPORT/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

An F.B.I. agent prepares to enter the Hang Ten store Wednesday morning June 26, 2013 at 11,421 West Avenue. The F.B.I. and other federal agencies made stops at several stores around San Antonio that sell synthetic marijuana. A press conference is expected at 3:00 p.m. that should provide more details.

Photo By John Davenport/San Antonio Express-News

An F.B.I. agent prepares to enter the Hang Ten store Wednesday morning June 26, 2013 at 11,421 West Avenue. The F.B.I. and other federal agencies made stops at several stores around San Antonio that sell synthetic marijuana. A press conference is expected at 3:00 p.m. that should provide more details.

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For more than a year, federal agents and local police in San Antonio watched a select number of convenience stores and smoke shops as they allegedly sold synthetic marijuana that officials consider a growing health problem.

On Wednesday, the law officers struck, raiding 24 locations here and several more in Austin and elsewhere as part of a national crackdown — Operation Synergy — on synthetic marijuana, or “Spice” and other synthetic drugs.

They arrested 12 of 19 people in San Antonio on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.

Among them was their main target, Muhammad Jaffer Ali, 50, whose Best Foods No. 2 at Evers Road and Northwest Loop 410 was the site of a raid earlier this year where San Antonio police already had taken $500,000 worth of synthetic marijuana.

His lawyer didn't return calls seeking comment.

The store was raided again Wednesday, along with two smoke shops, an ice house and five other stores.

Also raided were storage units in San Antonio, a suspected lab on the Northeast Side and five homes, including Ali's house in Helotes.

Officials said the targets distributed synthetic marijuana and bath salts in Laredo, Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma.

Agents with the FBI and Internal Revenue Service helped follow the money, and piece together the puzzle.

“We're comfortable in saying it was a multimillion-dollar-a-month industry here locally,” said True Brown, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in San Antonio.

“The drugs are not to be trifled with,” said Richard Durbin, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas. “... Their effects on any given user can be unpredictable and sometimes devastating.”

For several years, Spice mixtures have been easy to purchase at smoke shops, some convenience stores and via the Internet, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Because the chemicals used in Spice have a high potential for abuse and no medical benefit, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has designated the five active chemicals most frequently found in Spice as Schedule I controlled substances, making it illegal to sell, buy, or possess them, the center said.

The final product often is disguised as incense, tobacco, bath salts and potpourri.

Between 2010 and February 2013, the Texas Poison Control Network reported receiving 1,627 calls about exposure to synthetic pot, with users experiencing agitation, elevated blood pressure, confusion and rapid heart beat, among other symptoms.